Maserati eyes big expansion

Italy may be in the grips of a recession, but the car maker is planning a staggering eight-fold increase in sales.

December 14 2012

David Morley

Maserati Quattroporte GTS V8.

Maserati Quattroporte GTS V8.

Maserati Quattroporte GTS V8.

Maserati Quattroporte GTS V8.

Maserati Quattroporte GTS V8.

2013 Maserati Quattroporte

2013 Maserati Quattroporte

2013 Maserati Quattroporte

2013 Maserati Quattroporte

2013 Maserati Quattroporte

2013 Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

of

Lamborghini might have the fighting bull as its trademark, but it is Italian counterpart Maserati that is really feeling bullish.

So is the Australian importer of Maserati, which overtook the brand's home market of Italy in the sales race this year.

Globally, the company is predicting that it will increase annual sales more than eight-fold between now and 2015, despite the economic woes affecting Europe and the US.

The secret to this success, says Maserati CEO and president Harald Wester, will be a broadening of Maserati's product line-up.

Speaking at the launch of the new Maserati Quattroporte in France this week, Mr Wester confirmed that the company would expand from its current annual sales rate of just over 6000 cars to a massive 50,000 cars by 2015.

A new smaller sports car, a mid-sized luxury-performance sedan and, crucially, a new SUV would spearhead this market onslaught.

Related Content

Mr Wester said while Maserati's current model line-up gave it a potential slice of 21 per cent of the world market, the new additions and new segments they targeted would take the brand's market penetration to a full 100 per cent.

“Obviously, the big growth possibility is in the SUV market,” Mr Wester said.

“But we also now have about 250 dealers around the world, and we will take that to closer to 450 dealers by 2015,” he said.

Advertisement

Mr Wester said the expansion plans represented a 1.2 billion euro investment, most of which had already been spent.

Big things are expected of the Asia-Pacific countries which have bucked the global trend that sees traditional markets like the US and Europe still in the economic doldrums.

“While the US remains, and will almost certainly continue to be, our biggest market, China is now our No. 2 market,” Mr Wester said.

A few years ago, Chinese sales were barely a blip on the radar.

Australia, meanwhile, has been doing very nicely for Maserati lately, and has rated as high as seventh in the world for retail sales with between 2 and 3 per cent of total sales in the last couple of years.

Australia's leap-frogging of Italian Maserati sales is largely down to the economic mire in Europe and social concerns there that make conspicuous consumption of things like luxury cars a no-go zone.

Mr Wester confirmed that Maserati already has the production capacity for its 50,000 cars target thanks to a new site outside Turin that builds the new Quattroporte.

Another facility will be established for the SUV model – to be named Levante – while other new models will include the mid-sized sedan to be called Ghibli, a replacement for the Gran Turismo and Gran Cabrio, and a fifth new model widely tipped to be a smaller, mid-engined car.